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I was amazed to read the other day that thousands of people in the UK are producing their own biodiesel fuel for their cars. The incredible thing is that they are using waste vegetable oil, which would have been thrown out anyway, and it is costing only 15p per litre, as opposed to at least 1.25 UK pounds sterling that 'normal' fuel costs! If you have to buy the oil, then it will go up to 45p a litre, but that is still much, much cheaper than prices for fossil fuel.

You can make the fuel with specially manufactured processors that start from around 900 UK pounds sterling - but you should easily recover the cost in savings made over the first year of use.

In the UK, you are allowed to make 2.500 litres of fuel yourself tax-free, and I am wondering what the situation is in other countries. I feel pretty sure that here in Greece it will be pretty impossible for anyone to do likewise - there are so many rules, so much bureaucracy and I doubt if the big boys selling fuel will allow it to happen in the foreseeable future.

However, this does seem to be an ideal solution. The vegetable oil is recycled, it costs less and according to Ecotec Resources, who manufacture the processors to produce the biodiesel fuel -

Biodiesel is a perfectly suitable replacement for fossil diesel, in fact it has better lubrication qualities than fossil diesel and recent tests by Porsche on behalf of Mercedes proclaimed that the qualities of Biodiesel could extend an engines life considerably. Aside from its better running qualities, it is, more importantly, better for the environment, biodiesel is biodegradable and non-toxic, and typically produces about 60% less net carbon dioxide emissions than petroleum-based diesel, as it is itself produced from atmospheric carbon dioxide via photosynthesis in plants.Well, what are we waiting for ?! It should be interesting to see how this develops and what reactions will be from the large oil companies and other interested parties!